Tools of Transcendence And The Difference Between Will Power And Single Mindedness Part Three: A new term

Is it becoming clearer what reaching our potential is about?

By now I hope it is clear that there is a difference between will power which could be called stubbornness, persistence, bull headedness etc, and single mindedness. The illustration of two people rowing in opposite directions has served us well. Perhaps it is also clear that our potential is reached when we are engaged in what we really want to do, in who we really are and what we are made for. Many times we do only what we think we should do or what we think others expect of us. To do our duty with grace is good, but to live only for others expectations is empty. We cannot achieve our potential this way. But what if we introduce a new term. What if instead of talking about differences between will power and single mindedness, we introduce a concept that unites to two. What if we talk about the unified will? Now we have an idea that leads to the unlocking of our potential. A unified will, one that is less and less hindered by the drag of uncertainty and cross motivation is unstoppable.

When the entire Mind/Body moves in one direction, things outside our habitual ordinary experience happen. Michael Jordan was exceptional because of his focus. Mark Allen, six time winner of the Hawaii Ironman was a very smart and focused athlete. His spiritual and inner preparation was even more important than and in fact shaped his training. These are great illustrations, but I am not talking about being a famous athlete, but about the individual path of progress, the process that we all know.

Next practices to promote progress

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Good Running - Scott

Tools of Transcendence And The Difference Between Will Power And Single Mindedness Part Two: The Deeper Aspects

In the last post we illustrated the idea of forces that oppose our finding and expressing our full potential. But we did not give examples. Physical examples are easy enough to give. We have all seen it. We have seen the runner who goes down the road or trail with one arm flailing and the other barely moving, the runner who when we watch from the back has one leg kicking out to the side due to extraneous internal or external hip rotation, or the shoulders rounded and head down, or the front leg reaching out in an over striding motion. There are more subtle things of course, like just running with too much muscular tension.

But what difference does it make really? Well, the principles of physics say that energy that does not get used to produce motion goes somewhere. Actually, it produces heat. Unnecessary compression of joints due to too much unnecessary muscular tension produces unnecessary wear and tear on joints. Poor skeletal alignment produces what are known in engineering as point loads. The joints are loaded in one point only, thus magnifying the wear in the joint by a large factor instead of spreading force out over the entire surface of the joint. This is what causes running injuries. And if you happen to be competitive, who can imagine winning a race with some of your energy going the wrong way?

We can look deeper into the ideas of conflicted intention, cross motivation and what it means to be single minded. Imagine the picture of two people rowing a boat in opposite directions represents your mind. There is not a single mind, a single intention, but a multitude of thoughts pulling in many directions. I have been fairly persistent, stubborn, determined at times. I can give an example. I remember in school having been required to read some of the classics such as Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities. I set myself out a goal to read so many pages a day and by golly, I got the books read. But I did not enjoy the process at the time, and found my mind wandering often. I probably got something out of the experience, but nothing like I would have had I been interested and focused. Will power can get a job done, but it cannot unlock all of our potential. Only single mindedness can do that. The implications for our training are enormous.

more in the next post

Tools of Transcendence And The Difference Between Will Power And Single Mindedness

Look at the illustration below of two people in a boat, rowing in opposite directions. What will happen if the stronger of the two rows harder. The boat will speed up, right? But what is obvious is that with more effort comes more speed, but the situation remains inefficient. No matter how hard one person tries to speed up, they are still encountering resistance, drag, and extraneous effort toward the intention to move forward in one direction. Obviously, the admonition to just try harder here, misses the point.

If we take this as a picture of our physical existence, then we realize that our movement, our running can be improved, ultimately not by trying harder but by discovering and eliminating unnecessary effort.

While will power and persistence can be admirable qualities. They cannot by themselves allow us to achieve our full potential. "Trying" could be defined as using extra effort to make up for lack of skill. What results is less than our full potential. We reach plateaus and cannot make further progress. If we apply this idea to the mechanics of our running, we realize that most of us could benefit from becoming more efficient in some way. We can always improve. Most of us do not have action that is fully consistent with our intention of moving forward smoothly.

Most of us have a divided mind, a divided action in one way or another as a result of habit and previous learning. The solution is more learning.